When a leading international medical body finally says, “we hear you,” it changes everything.
For far too many decades, breast implants were being recalled and causing a systemic response in illness, with women literally dying and hiding in subculture online groups supporting one another, and often without any funding to remove them and the surrounding scar tissue. This new surgery called complete capsulectomy is costly and specialised. With health insurance not being able to be accessed for the life-threatening illness operation, millions of women across the world, including myself have been and are dying to be well.
But finally, a professional body has acknowledged that what these women are feeling is real.
This happened on August 13, 2025, when the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) formally recognised Breast Implant Illness (BII) as a legitimate condition; one that deserves attention, empathy, and continued research.
For millions of women around the world, this is more than a policy statement. It’s validation. It’s a turning point.
From disbelief to acknowledgment from surgeons, but still not mainstream media… until now with this article and this mission.
In his now widely shared Instagram post, Dr Landon Pryor, a board-certified plastic surgeon, applauded the ISAPS announcement, calling it “a watershed moment for women who’ve been told their symptoms were all in their heads.”
And he’s right.
For decades, women who experienced fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, rashes, mood changes, and autoimmune-like symptoms after getting breast implants were dismissed, patronised, or gaslit. They were told it wasn’t real. That it was anxiety. That they were ungrateful.
That medical gaslighting left many women questioning their intuition and feeling disconnected from their bodies — the very core of feminine wisdom and wellness.
But when ISAPS acknowledged systemic symptoms linked to breast implants and confirmed many women improved after explanation, those voices were finally heard.
Women are now being heard. And hearing, I’ve always believed, is a part of the healing.
Why this moment matters
This recognition is more than symbolic. It shifts how women are treated in consultation rooms and how surgeons approach informed consent.
I’ve created a new #metoo movement with my audience recognising they’re feeling the same when it comes to being upsold secondary surgeries or told they don’t have a rupture. Six surgeons and an MRI told me I was fine, but I wasn’t. I had a rupture in my left implant exactly where I was pinpointing it to be. I was begging to be triaged and slowly my body was shutting down. In February 2023, I finally had explant surgery and have been on a crusade ever since.
ISAPS’s statement does not claim that BII is a fully defined disease, nor that every symptom is caused by implants, but it does state that patient reports of systemic illness are valid and deserve investigation and that many women report improvements after implant removal.
That acknowledgment changes the medical conversation.
It means:
• Doctors can no longer dismiss or diminish these symptoms.
• Clinics must provide comprehensive, transparent information.
• Research will be better funded and more collaborative.
• And most importantly, women will no longer have to fight to be believed.
This shift in tone from denial to dialogue marks the true beginning of healing for countless women around the world.
A global movement of women reclaiming health
For me, this moment feels deeply personal.
When I released my book,Treasured Chest: Exposing Explants & Empowering You, I wanted to create something far bigger than a story about surgery. It was about sovereignty. The courage to question. The intuition to listen. The power to heal and ask “Who is really in control?”
That book sparked a global movement of women sharing their experiences, exploring explantation, and rediscovering what it means to live fully embodied, natural, and whole.
Through countless conversations, podcasts, and community events, I’ve witnessed what happens when women trust their inner knowing: they heal faster, they speak louder, and they help others do the same. We are no longer hiding in subculture online groups. We are starting to come out.
So, when ISAPS formally recognised BII, it didn’t just validate a diagnosis. It validated the lived truth of every woman who had to fight to be heard. It affirmed what many of us have been saying all along: that intuition and science don’t have to be at odds. They can and must work together.
What this means going forward
For women considering implants: you now have the right to informed consent that includes all known information about systemic symptoms.
For those experiencing illness: you have permission to explore the possibility that your implants may be contributing — and to be taken seriously when you do.
For surgeons and clinics: this is your call to evolve. To lead with empathy. To say, “We believe you,” before the test results even come in. Because medicine without compassion is just mechanics.
And for policymakers and researchers: this is your cue to fund long-term studies and create better reporting systems, so women’s health is no longer sidelined by cosmetic trends or industry interests.
Recognition is the first step of healing
When women are silenced, they become sick. When women are heard, they begin to heal.
This announcement from ISAPS is more than a technical update. It’s a cultural shift. It tells the world that women’s bodies are not laboratories for beauty standards, and that lived experience is a form of evidence.
We’ve entered a new era of body literacy where women are finally empowered to make informed, self-loving decisions about their health.
Recognition doesn’t mean resolution. But it does mean that the healing has begun.
And as someone who has seen firsthand the resilience, courage, and truth of women who choose to explant, I can say with certainty: this is not the end of the story—it’s the beginning of a movement.
In Australia, you can access your superannuation for a life-threatening illness operation through the ATO, but we still have a long way to go. For example, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) should be issuing a black box warning the way the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) do in the United States. We hope that this announcement will call for insurance companies and Medicare to finally pay for sufferers to get well and explant.